The Secret Life of Daydreams
by alejandrathemexican
Summary: (Regency AU) Ginny was in love with her brother's best friend, who lived in the great house across the lake, up the hill.
1. The great house on the hill

**March 16th 2017: Just a little something to exercise my writing muscles! Don't worry! I'm still working on _The Road Back Home_ , it's just taking a little bit longer than expected to get past a little knot in the plot. I took the name from the song that inspired the story, and I might continue it...**

 **Plain old regency stories are good for my heart like that.**

* * *

The stars shined brightly that night, their light cascading over the tall grass, swishing and waving in the bank of the lake the great house overlooked. It was bathing in moonlight. Ginny could see it tower above the tree cusps, from behind her room's window, across the lake, up the hill off where her own house sit in.

She supposed the house had been pretty, at some point of history. Her mother would always deplore on how the house had fallen into disrepair (" _Really,_ Ginny! All the windows were cleaned no less than once a week, I tell you! I _honestly_ don't know what that Sirius Black is thinking, keeping it like that!") when the owners, the Potters, were still alive.

Ginny kept combing her long, straight, red hair. Most of everyone else was already asleep; the only one awake besides her was her mum, Molly, who was upstairs tending to Ron, who in turn had caught a cold and was miserable at the moment.

The floor was cold under her slippers, and she shivered through her coat. They had enough money to heat more than one room at once, but her mother preferred to save the logs for when the winter really came. Normally, the warmest room had been the sitting room, but as Ron was sick, he'd gotten the privilege. Ginny didn't really mind, she just wished the warm weather would return, if only for a moment.

A knock on the door brought her out of her head.

Her mum's voice resonated from the precariously built second story. "Ginny, will you get that? I'm a bit preoccupied at the moment!"

"Yes, mum!" Ginny whipped the long braid she'd been weaving from her front to her back, and grabbed the candlestick to light her way. She heard Molly's voice complain about the hour ("These certainly are not the proper hours to call! I hope it's not an emergency…").

Ginny smiled. She opened the door a crack, holding the candlestick close so the light would illuminate the Weasley's late visitor.

"Harry!" Her smile became wider.

"Miss Weasley." Said he, with an uncomfortable, awkward sort of look.

"Mr. Potter," her smile dropped, annoyance slipping into her features. "Pray, what brings you here at this hour?"

Harry looked even more uncomfortable at her words. "Right, err… I just got back from London…"

"Yes…?"

Harry shifted.

Ginny sighed, a disobedient smile on her face, and opened the door wide. "Will you come on in, then?"

"Ginny, dear, who is at the door?" shouted Molly from upstairs.

"It's Harry, mum!"

"Well, let him in then! Tell him I'll be right down!"

Ginny smiled at Harry, "Well, you heard my mistress!"

Harry grinned back and followed her through the short hallway into the sitting room.

She sat down unceremoniously on the settee, the black-haired sat in the chair across from her. The light from the candlestick shined

He held his riding crop and his hat, turning it as he thought. He opened his mouth, but decided to change his words and closed it once more before opening it again to finally speak. "Since when do you call me Mr. Potter?"

Ginny raised a single eyebrow, a challenging smile on her. "Since when do _you_ call me Miss Weasley?"

Harry smiled, the nervousness not leaving his features. "Since Mrs. Weasley, who is _your_ mother, might I add, started to feel it was improper for me to use your Christian name."

She laughed, "Well, we've known each other since infancy, and _Mrs. Weasley_ is upstairs, tending to Ron."

As if summoned, the sound of retching found them, making their smiles uneasy.

"How is he?"

Ginny turned her eyes to the door, wishing they could go through walls, through bodies, and she could be certain her brother would be just fine. "He will be alright," she said more to comfort herself than Harry, "The physician said he'd get well fast, reckons it's only a cold, but I think," she added, with a conspiratorial whisper "he's just a bit indisposed from eating too much as well."

For Harry, this brought an image of his best mate, Ron, practically inhaling the food at the table, as if he'd been starving for a few days before. He smiled, his hands stilling over his hat.

"Have you just arrived from London?" Inquired Ginny, glancing at his windswept appearance. "You look exhausted."

"Do I?" Harry combed a hand through his hair, "I did just get back, hence the late hour. I received a letter from Fred and George, and I saddled my horse."

Ginny smiled, an apology dancing in the candlelight. "You know them, they're always playing practical jokes, they must have sought to alarm you unnecessarily."

"Err… Well… they did." His cheeks turned a shade of pink that made him very pleasant to look at (wherever Ginny was concerned), he cleared his throat in annoyance "But that's neither here nor there. Sirius has been meaning to introduce them to Mundungus Fletcher; reckons he can import ingredients from the continent the twins can't access lately."

"Really? But I thought you both hated him. Mum can't stand to look at him"

"We still do but," He leaned in, closer to her. "lately he's been running his business straight. I expect the twins will be able to reign him in."

"Reign in who?" Molly Weasley burst into the living room, her feet carrying her hurriedly to where Harry was sitting. "Hello Harry, dear."

Harry rose abruptly and bowed over Mrs. Weasley's hand.

"No one, Mum," Piped in Ginny "just the twins."

Mrs. Weasley's frown made a slight appearance. "Oh, those two!" She waved her hand dismissively. "I hope they haven't been much trouble lately." She added, trying hard to be displeased, although her eyes betrayed the fondness she felt for her youngest children, barring Ronald and Ginny.

"They haven't been," Harry assured her. "The shop is very popular; I expect they will get a good return on their investment."

Ginny raised an eyebrow at him, but he sent a hurried look at her, and she consoled herself with a frown.

"In any case, I must be going, Mrs. Weasley. I'm sorry I've kept you up so late" Harry reached down to the chair behind him, gathering his things.

Mrs. Weasley took note of his disarrayed appearance. "Oh, dear! Certainly, you didn't just arrive from London, did you? Say you didn't ride all the way here!" She took his silence as an affirmation to her suspicions, and frowned "Go home now, and rest! You all will be the death of me! Go home, dear, don't want you catching whatever Ronald's ill with."

After a few apologies and promises to visit the next morning, Harry Potter, with the green eyes and black hair Ginny so loved, left The Burrow.


	2. The letter full of truth and lies

It was early enough that there would be no one about in the little town of Ottery St. Catchpole, Ginny knew. She'd put her hair up in a simple style, and was holding a basket with bread for her to take her brothers in the shop. The little sloping trail that joined into the road was long and only barely covered with grass. Her boots sank occasionally into mud, the earth still wet from the rain that had fallen the day before.

The sound of a trotting horse made her look back. It was a black stallion, walking alongside the trail she herself was occupying. On top of the horse, was Harry.

She stopped, closing her pelisse further to shield herself against the wind, and turning around fully to acknowledge him. He was smiling, almost relieved. He dismounted carefully, and led the horse next to him.

Ginny curtsied. "Out for a ride, then?"

He stopped in front of her, "I am on my way to town." He bowed his head. "I thought I'd find you at The Burrow, but Mrs. Weasley informed me you were out to visit Fred and George."

"I decided to brave the weather to bring them some bread," She smiled, lifting the arm that the basket was hanging from.

"Seeing as we are going in the same direction, what say you we walk together?" he suggested, offering his arm.

She looped her other arm around it, pretending not to have felt the shiver that went down her spine. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you. What a sight you'll prove to be, arriving leading a horse rather than mounting it."

Harry smiled at her. "Not at all. I took the horse only because the thought of walking to town by myself was too boring a prospect." He turned to look back at his manor, thoughtfully.

They walked in amiable silence for the next fifteen minutes, both observing the scenery, but Harry kept frowning at moments.

Ginny noticed, "Harry, whatever is the matter?" she said, looking at Harry intently.

He startled so badly, he tripped over a tree root in the path. "Pardon me?"

"I don't mean to be meddlesome, but you've been scowling here and there," She looked ahead. "I wondered whether your business in town is rather pressing and I'm keeping you from fulfilling it."

"It's only my aunt and uncle. They have demanded our assistance once again. Nothing too serious." Harry was quiet for a moment, then his laughter burst out, good-naturedly. "If my business was truly urgent I would have asked you to ride on the back of my horse, and then what a sight we'd be!"

Ginny felt her heart flutter. She forced herself to laugh. "Then you'd have to marry me to appease my poor mother! I'm sure the very much unwelcome prospect shall make you think twice." Her heart raced at the idea, though she tried to keep her expression still.

"I would not mind, really."

She turned to him in surprise, but all she could gather from his expression was a content smile.

"If it came to it, and your reputation had to be saved, I would not see marrying you as such an inconvenience." He glanced at her blushing face, and could not stand the heat that rose in his. "You are the most unaffected lady I have ever met, and one of my greatest friends."

They had arrived at the edge of Ottery St. Catchpole, that prided itself of possessing a street or two filled with shops, and the pretty and charming housing for the trading folk.

Ginny disentangled her arm from his, not daring to look at him. "Shall we part ways here?"

He bowed, and mounted his horse once more while Ginny waited in silence. "I'm sorry if I was too frank, I only meant to give you a compliment."

She laughed, waving him away with a smirk. "I never knew you to be the sort of man to display your gentlemanly virtues to the public, but I stand corrected. What a terrible misunderstanding!"

Her smirk melted into a fond smile when he flustered, denying ever having done such a thing.

"Shall we get on with our business? A good day to you, Mr. Potter!" Then she curtsied and left, leaving him speechless.

Harry waited until she was safe inside the Weasley twins' store before pulling on the reigns, and turning his horse back to Potter Manor, the faintest of smiles on his face.

The doorbell made a nice little jingle when she came in, and it was Fred who burst from the back of the shop.

"Welcome to Weasley's Wondrous Wheezes! The perfect diversion for every occasion! Oh! It's only you, Gin."

Ginny smiled, "Only me? Don't be -!"

"Ginny!" interrupted George. "Come to feed us, have you?"

She responded by eying him up and down. "Only because you look like you need it! I tell you, you should settle down," Ginny murmured as if conspiring with George, as she placed the basket on the counter while she watched Fred close the store. "talk to Angelina Johnson, when will you?"

"Dear sister! It shall be me," started Fred.

"No, me!" interrupted George.

"Who earns the heart and hand of that lovely lady!" finished Fred, walking back to the pair by the counter.

George mocked a deeply offended mien and placed his hand over his heart. "Then we shall duel for the right to court her!"

"At midnight by the Otter river!" added Fred.

"Bring your sword, but not your pistol, brother!"

Fred drew from their performance to sneak a wink at Ginny. "We're pretending to have pistols or swords though we have none."

George laughed, "As it is, the foulest attacks we are able to produce is to swat at each other," he addressed Ginny.

"So worry not, dear little sister! You shan't lose both of us at midnight tonight," consoled Fred.

"I needn't worry, for you are always like this." Ginny turned, unbuttoning her pelisse, an amused glint in her brown eyes.

Fred and George shared a look, before George grabbed the basket and went into the back of the shop.

"Well then," said Fred with a smile, amidst the sounds of George going up the stairs. "Shall we break our fast?"

Ginny followed them to the small dining room, part storage-part dining room in fact, where un-released and so yet unsold trinkets and games sat on the shelves, and on the dark wooden surface of the table itself. She moved to displace a few interesting metal contraptions.

Fred and George lost no time to dive into the basket, pulling out the loaf of bread Mrs. Weasley had baked for them. While Fred cut the bread, George spread the butter on the top, and Ginny set the kettle on the fire.

"I see you're doing well, brothers!" stated Ginny, leaving the stove and coming to sit by the others.

Fred smiled, his mouth full. "We do alright for ourselves."

"Ginny," George interrupted, a mischievous smirk forming in his face "Do you know if Harry has arrived yet from London?"

Both twins eyed her with interest. Ginny could not suppress her scoff, half amused, half annoyed. "Indeed. Arrived just as I was about to turn in for the night, he did!"

"He was very worried, was he not?" prompted Fred.

"Yes! But once he heard Ronald was alright, he seemed to calm down."

George threw an urgent look at Fred, and seemed to have a quick silent conversation, before they both nodded, and turned again to look at Ginny.

"We believe it is positively noteworthy, " started George.

"Fully and wholly relevant," added Fred.

"-That you should know, Gin," said George, smirking again, and looking at Ginny's raised eyebrow. "That the trick we played on our dear friend involved providing him with the understanding that it was you," he motioned to her by raising his eyebrows, tearing a piece of bread in two "-and not our youngest brother who was bedridden."

Ginny wondered for a second, in silence, but then laughed it all off, claiming Harry was so noble, he would do that for any of the Weasleys, and changed the subject.

Although on the way back home, she couldn't stop a small flicker (tiny, really), from beginning to form deep inside her heart.

Before entering The Burrow, she stopped and glanced at the great house on the top of the hill, and she sighed, telling herself that no matter what he said, Harry would have to take many things into consideration before he would choose who to court. One of them would be his future wife's standing in society. Her own family, although part of the gentry, had resorted to the trade and the military, and Ginny didn't see how the Potter family could afford to take her, considering Mr Sirius Black's, Harry's godfather, goal to return the family to its proper (yet former) place in society.

And that was even pretending he could be tempted to notice her as a prospect.

No. She'd stop thinking silly thoughts.

Ginny went into the house, decidedly ignoring the spark of hope that could not be muffled.


End file.
